Disney, Day 6

Today was our last day at Disney World. We had already decided to cancel our 8:25 breakfast reservation at Hollywood Studios b/c we knew we would be way too tired. Plus, the breakfast was with the Little Einstein characters, and none of us have any idea who they are. Turns out, we needed to cancel b/c we had accidentally used all our meal credits! We had been ordering Anna kids’ meals everywhere we went, but b/c she was technically an “infant,” we weren’t supposed to do that. She could have easily eaten off our plates (we had had way too much food), but we just didn’t know. Oh well. We still had over 20 snack credits left, so we used our snack credits to get muffins, Danishes, and drinks for breakfast at the hotel. Then, sadly, mom and dad left. Greg, the kids, and I headed to Epcot for one more morning of fun.

By this time, our kids were old pros at the monorail.

Unfortunately, right before we got to Epcot, Greg worried he might have left our van unlocked, with all our luggage sitting in it. He chose to go back and check it (I emphasize that, b/c he has subsequently blamed his choice on me:)). In the meantime, the kids and I went on in to Epcot and rode the Finding Nemo ride.

The ride was okay, but the aquarium afterward was amazing. My kids loved it, and we literally stayed in one room of fish tanks for an hour, just looking.

Here is Anna, in front of a tank full of electric eels.

It’s Dory! The tanks had all the characters from Finding Nemo, which my kids very much appreciated. I think it would have been funny to have a video camera on the Dory fish tank to see how many parents sang, “Just keep swimming,” as they pointed Dory out to their kids. I know I did. And I know about five other parents did while we are looking. It’s a reflex, I tell you!

There was also a tank full of seahorses…

…and one of lion fish. I thought the lion fish were beautiful.

So was this anemone.

We also spent an inordinate time watching this little crab in its shell. It was right on eye level with Luke and Anna. We all marveled while watching its tiny legs scuttle across the sand and watching it eat (or something—it looked like it was eating). In an earlier post, I mentioned my lack of awe over the rides in Fantasyland. Well, I was certainly filled with awe at the aquarium. Staring at this tiny crab, I was floored by the fact that there was a God who made both this little crab and the huge elephant we had seen earlier that week at the Animal Kingdom.

We spent most of our time at this tank, b/c we got caught up in the drama of the fish:

First, there was this angry fish. I know it was angry b/c Luke told me it was. And he knew it was angry b/c, “just look at its face.” Luke’s theory was that the fish was angry b/c another fish had bitten him. Turns out, there was some validity to that theory

.Again, as I was caught in the moment, I was filled with awe at a God who could create a small, angry looking fish, and another creature who had the capacity to theorize why the tiny fish was angry. The complexity of it all was mind boggling.

Then came a showdown. First, this menacing shrimp came at the angry fish from one side.

At the same time, the yellow fish closed in on the other. They proceeded to nip at the angry fish, who swam furiously back and forth between them. Next, they nipped at each other.We were very entertained by the drama.

At another point, we watched a starfish walk rather quickly (for a starfish) across the sand. It had a little bit of sand on top of it, and I wondered at the time, how the starfish had gotten sand on top of it. Well, we soon found out. The starfish picked a spot, and, before our eyes, began to bury himself. You could not see him move at all, and yet sand just kept piling up around him. Before long, he was almost invisible:

The aquarium was by far the best part of the day. Greg met up with us while we were there, and then we went to the ride, Journey Into Imagination with Figment.

Smile at the camera, Anna!

I’m sad to say, this ride was a bust. It was supposed to be the top kids ride at Epcot, but it was quite boring! Oh well. The aquarium had turned out to be way more fun than we had thought, so it more than made up for this disappointment.Luke did have fun playing with some of the stuff at the end of the ride. Those squares lit up and made sounds when you jumped on them.

And these cartoons moved, depending on how you moved your arms.

Afterward, we used a bunch more of our snack credits to get lunch, and we ate it in front of these fountains.

Luke loved watching the water leap from one fountain to the next.

And then a train came by, and his heaven was complete. Clearly, he is trying to explain something very important in this picture.

Then, it was time to leave. This was the first trip in years that I can honestly say that I was sad that it was over. I have been on many fun trips, but I am always ready to go home afterward. I love home. But today, we were all sad. We had had such a fun time all week, and it was so nice to put aside all the stress and busyness of life, and just have fun with our family.

On the way out, Luke pretended to take a nap:

Then, we took our last monorail ride back to our hotel:Anna was a little bit squirmy:).

Bye, bye, Disney World. We had an absolutely amazing time! Now, it’s back to the real world!

Disney, Day 5

On Thanksgiving morning, Luke decided to wear his new pirate outfit for the day. Isn’t it great? It also comes with these really cool boots that make the outfit even better, but Luke opted out of them for the day. He also opted out of the brown hat that came with it, b/c the hat had dreds attached (like Captain Jack Sparrow?), and Luke’s not into that. He also vigorously opposed the idea of a big gold hoop earring, which Gaga had also bought. And we convinced him to leave behind his hook, gun, sword, gold medallion, and shackles. But he did bring his patch and eyeglass.

The irony is that Luke does not enjoy attention from strangers. And because of his cool outfit, he got it all day long. The outfit did come in handy a couple of times, though, when Luke wanted to impress people. But more on that later.

We started the day off with a late breakfast at the Beach Resort, one of the Epcot hotels. It took us over an hour to get there via monorail, bus, and boat, and I learned that I need to work more on “enjoying the journey”:). It was a little ironic to be that annoyed with inefficiency on Thanksgiving Day. In Disney World. On a vacation that I wasn’t paying for. I really hate being late, though, and we were twenty minutes late. But we got there, and it was beautiful.

(I share that anecdote so that you can see that I’m not making up how wonderful this vacation was. I really haven’t been glossing over the bad parts. It’s just that there really weren’t any bad parts!)

At breakfast, we met more characters.

Anna came back from the bathroom just in time to meet Donald!

Next came Minnie.And then Goofy. Goofy was very tall.

Afterward, we went back out to the dock. On the other side of the lake was the Boardwalk, where we would be eating Thanksgiving dinner that evening.

Even though today was going to be our Epcot day, we decided to go to Hollywood Studios instead, because it was so close. Also, the main ride Luke wanted to go on before the trip was Toy Story Mania, at Hollywood Studios. And after Space Mountain broke down on us, we were less comfortable with putting that off until the last day. So we caught the boat to Hollywood Studios, instead of Epcot.

Our first stop was Toy Story Mania.

Despite the fact that Greg had run into the park on the way to breakfast, they were already out of Fast Passes for the day. Crazy! Thankfully, the wait was entertaining.

Anna, especially, was enchanted by all the toys around the line. At one point, she tried to sneak out of line to play in the toy world, but her mean parents stopped her:).

Here they are watching the giant, talking Mr. Potato Head.

The ride was a lot of fun. It’s basically this 3D video game. On this trip, by the way, Greg proved himself to be amazing at video games. In the Buzz Lightyear ride on Tuesday, Luke got 700 points, I got 1500, and Greg got 25,000! When he played the video games that are in the line for Space Mountain, he always got the high score of our group. And on Toy Story Mania, he soundly beat me, even though his accuracy percentage was only slightly better than mine. He’s just really good at finding the high value targets. Anna sat in between us and didn’t want to play until the very end. And then she wanted to play mine, of course:). And of course, I let her “play” during my bonus round, but it says something about mine and Greg’s competitive spirits that it was hard to turn my gun over to her:).

Luke and Gaga loved it, too, and Luke was ready to play again afterward. The thought of the long line deterred him, however. So we stopped and had a snack instead.

And we got to meet Sarge from Toy Story. A child ran through the best picture that I got, but I’m including it anyway.

Because our breakfast was so late (11:10 am), it was about time to head over to our dinner reservation. There was nothing else we really wanted to do at Hollywood Studios, and we were all started to get tired, so we headed for the boat docks. On the way, though, there was a parade. Of course:).

I include this picture for my benefit. I just like looking at it:). That’s my husband:). Okay, next:

The kids liked watching the huge Toy Story float, which stopped right in front of them for a massive dance number. Then, it was on to the dock.

At the dock, Luke met the second person of the day that he wanted to impress. The first person was Mr. Potato Head, in the Toy Story Mania line. While we were in line, he had his hat off, and his eye patch around his neck. When I mentioned that Mr. Potato Head was up ahead, Luke snapped to attention, put his hat on, and began fixing his eye patch just so. Then he realized that Mr. Potato Head wasn’t real, and he relaxed. Well, at the dock, this little girl in the Tigger hat caught his eye. She was absolutely adorable, and so sweet. When he dropped his hat, she grinned and said, “A pirate’s not a pirate without a hat.” Oh, heavens. That was all the encouragement Luke needed. He spent the rest of the wait for the boat doing everything he could to impress her. He showed off his eye glass, and even at one point rolled it to her, just so she would have to hand it back to him. He’s actually quite clever, and it is really amusing to watch his “casual” attempts at getting attention.

Once we arrived on the Boardwalk, we goofed around for awhile, and then went in to eat Thanksgiving dinner at The Flying Fish.

I didn’t get any pictures of our dinner, but it was really good. And we had so much to be thankful for. We really missed Mike, but we still celebrated being together. Afterward, mom and dad took the kids back to the hotel to swim, while Greg and I went back to Hollywood Studios to ride the Rockin’ Rollercoaster. Greg had gotten Fast Passes earlier in the day, and we made it just in time to use them.

Afterward, we headed back to the hotel and got there just as the rest of the family arrived. They had apparently had some misadventures with the transportation home. Anna had conked out on the trip and did not wake up, but Luke still wanted to go swimming. So Granddad, Greg, and I took him down to the pool. We ended up spending most of the time in the jacuzzi, since the pool was a little too chilly for us at that time of night. At one point, though, these two boys came and joined us, and Luke immediately started trying to impress them by swimming back and forth across the jacuzzi. The boys were about 10 and 12, and they were so sweet. They were polite and chatty, and so we talked about the weather, and how cold it was in Chicago, where they were from. The ten year old grinned at Luke’s attempts to impress, and, being a little boy himself, tried to impress Luke by getting up and running and jumping into the big pool (he did this after we had all remarked how cold the big pool was:)). Well. Then, of course, Luke had to do it. And of course, I had to get in the big pool myself to catch him.

We returned, shivering, to the jacuzzi, only to have Luke announce that he was ready to go again. I told Greg it was his turn, and he laughed and said, “What? I didn’t sign up for this!’ At which point the ten year old boy piped up cheerfully and said, “You signed up for this when you got married!”

And I told that whole story to set up that line. I very much enjoyed it. Thank you, ten year old boy from Chicago. You are sooo right:).

By that time, it was after 10:00 pm, and Luke had spent too much time in the jacuzzi, so we headed back up for bed. Well, at least, I thought we were going to bed. Greg convinced me to go out one more time and ride Space Mountain, and like a crazy person, I agreed. My bed was beckoning me, but Greg won. It’s just that I kind of like him:).

Disney, Day 4

On Wednesday morning, we ate breakfast at The Wave in our hotel, and then we headed back to Fantasy Land in the Magic Kingdom, to pick up where we left off. Luke had really wanted to ride the carousel on Tuesday, but we had to run to our lunch reservation and then go back to the hotel for naps. So the carousel was our first stop today.

Afterward, we rode Peter Pan’s Flight, which the kids loved. Luke, especially was enraptured. As an adult, I have the unfortunate ability to be constantly aware of the reality of the situation. For example, I enjoyed Peter Pan, but I know the whole time that we were in a carnival-style ride about ten feet above a miniature “London” below us. Even though it is fun, I never lost sight of that reality. Luke and Anna, on the other hand, really were flying above London! They were so high in the air that Big Ben looked tiny! They were amazed, entranced, enraptured. I remember that awe from when I was a kid at Disney World. I remember the enormity of the feeling of flying over whole towns and sailing through miniature worlds. I’m so glad that my kids got to experience that.

After Peter Pan’s Flight, we went to Mickey’s Philharmagic show, which is a 3D musical. We only went because when Greg got Fast Passes for Peter Pan’s Flight, “surprise” Fast Passes also printed out for the show. I am so glad we went, though. The 3D was so fun, and we all loved it. Well….all except for little Anna. I mentioned how real and immersive the experience of Peter Pan’s Flight was for the kids. Well, 3D is a little too real and immersive for Anna. She loved it until things started flying at her. Then, she was screaming and ducking! I had to pull her on my lap and lift up her glasses occasionally to show her that it wasn’t real. My favorite part came during the segment on the Lion King. That’s when we learned very clearly that Anna Grace is never going to go down without a fight. The moment those little animals came pouncing toward her, she was throwing punches, kicking her legs, and squirming around violently, all the while screaming, “They’re going to eat me!!” (Sidenote: She showed herself to be very concerned with the possibility of being eaten on this trip. I guess that’s a consequence of being so little and bite-sized:).) As always, I was able to calm her down by removing her glasses, but at the end of the show, she let it be known that she did not enjoy that experience. Greg, mom, and I, on the other hand, enjoyed it immensely. It is probably wrong to be so amused by a two-year-old’s distress, but I was laughing so hard, I was crying!

Next, we rode “It’s a Small World,” which was absolutely, hands down, my favorite ride as a child. And it is still wonderful.

Anna loved it. She spent the whole ride squealing, “Ooooo, look at that! Ooooo, look at those!” She squealed and pointed the whole time.

Next, we rode the carousel one more time. Then we went to a princess dress shop to get a dress for Anna for our dinner with Cinderella that night. They also have a place called Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where they do the girls’ hair in adorable, glittery buns, but it is only for 3-9 year olds. Boo. But Gaga loaded Anna up with enough princess gear to last a lifetime. Then we headed back to the hotel for lunch and naps. Luke and Anna fell asleep a little after 2:00, as did Greg and me. I woke up at 4:30, and they were all still asleep. Since our dinner date was at 5:45, we wanted to leave by 5:00 to make sure we made it in plenty of time. That meant I had to wake Anna up and get her dressed and ready.

Well. Little Princess was not ready to get up! It took about five minutes to get her conscious, and the whole time she was protesting and trying to burrow back under her covers. Poor thing. She squalled when I put her fancy princess dress. And then I had to do her hair! I never do buns, and I had no bobby pins and only two pony tail holders. I also had a screaming toddler. I spent about five minutes and decided that her hair looked good enough. Thankfully, by the time we left for our date, she had calmed down:

Here she is, showing off her “glass” slippers. The tiara Gaga bought her turned out to be too big, so once we got to the castle, Greg ran over and got her a smaller one. It was totally his thing. He was firmly of the mind that his princess needed a tiara, and so he found her the perfect one:). Then, we got to go in the castle and meet Cinderella:

Can you imagine if your job was to play Cinderella at Disney World? That has to be an ego boost:). We then went up the spiral staircase to our table in the castle. The server came and gave Anna a pink wand and Luke a sword. They also both got “Wishing Stars.” At one point, they had all the kids close their eyes, make a wish, and tap their wishing stars with their wands/swords. Luke was apparently too busy eating his star, but Anna took her job very seriously.

As we ate, different princesses came to our table. First came Snow White.

Then came Aurora, from Sleeping Beauty.

Next came Ariel. She and Anna discussed fashion.

Luke was not the least bit impressed with this parade of princesses and declined getting his picture taken with any of them. He was simply not the least bit interested. Then came Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. She caught Luke’s attention. As she talked to Anna, Luke shyly reached over and lit up Anna’s princess wand, then looked at Belle expectantly. Thankfully, Belle noticed the small overture and exclaimed admiringly, “Wow, you must be a sorcerer!” Luke beamed with pride, and when we asked if he wanted his picture taken with Belle, he was very willing:

Is he not adorable? So bashful:).

For dessert that night, the kids got these cute little make-your-own-sundae plates. Anna took her job very seriously. Luke, on the other hand….

Since the night was still young afterward, and since we had all had huge naps, we walked around the Magic Kingdom some more. First, we rode “It’s a Small World.”

Luke was proud to show us his muscles.

And Anna had fun with Daddy.

We might have also ridden Peter Pan’s Flight one more time, but I can’t remember. Next, we went over to Adventureland and rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Then, we found a pirate shop and Gaga and Granddaddy proceeded to outfit Luke as a pirate just as effectively as they had earlier outfitted Anna as a princess.

By that time, it was time to head back to the hotel. Of course, we got stopped by another parade. It was very pretty, though! My favorite part came at the end where a huge float came out with a billowing American flag, followed by a huge, glowing bald eagle:

Luke took one look at the flag and yelled, “BACON! Gaga, look! Gaga, it’s BACON! It’s BACON, Gaga! Look, Gaga! Look at that huge BACON!” I was dying laughing, and trying at the same time to explain to Luke that it was not bacon, but the American flag. I should mention Luke absolutely loves bacon, and I rarely cook it. None of the rest of us are that crazy about it. But this week, he enjoyed bacon every morning for breakfast, and I’ve decided that I should probably cook it more often for him.

Anyway, after the parade, we made it back to our hotel room to get some rest. After all, we had yet another big day ahead of us!